July 28 

Births:

1893 – Rued Langgaard, Danish composer and organist (d. 1952) 

1914 – Carmen Dragon, American conductor and composer (d. 1984) You may understand why I was a bit incredulous at this name, and then somewhat also surprised to see it was a man. 

Deaths:

1741 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1678). Only like, super important. 

1750 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1685). Ditto… Would it be too much to call him like, the father of the traditions of classical music?

2012 – Colin Horsley, New Zealand-English pianist (b. 1920)

July 29

Births:

1646 – Johann Theile, German composer (d. 1724)

1817 – Martin Körber, Baltic German pastor, composer, and conductor (d. 1893)

1846 – Sophie Menter, German pianist and composer (d. 1918)

1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-American pianist and composer (d. 1951)

Deaths:

1844 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1791)

1856 – Robert Schumann, German composer (b. 1810)

1970 – John Barbirolli, English cellist and conductor (b. 1899)

July 30

Births:

1899 – Gerald Moore, English pianist (d. 1987)

1948 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 2010)

Deaths:

1970 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (b. 1897) One of the biggest conducting names of the 20th century. 

July 31

Births:

1847 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (d. 1905)

1911 – George Liberace, American violinist (d. 1983) Yes, indeed… older brother to the other Liberace

Deaths:

1886 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1811). Of the Romantic era (and of the piano), I think of Liszt, Chopin, and Schumann. The latter two were born within a few months of each other, Liszt a year later. However, he died three decades after Schumann did, at the ripe old age of 74, ancient compared to the other two, neither of whom lived four full decades. 

Welcome to the month of August.

August 1

Births:

1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian composer (d. 1884) If it weren’t for Brahms, this young man’s symphony would probably be hailed as one of the greatest from such a young composer, although it’s probably more complicated than that. Listen to his symphony and tell me Mahler didn’t adore this piece so much that he used significant portions of it as inspiration for his own first symphony (or the Lieder he wrote that he later recycled in his first symphony). 

Deaths:

2012 – Douglas Townsend, American composer (b. 1921)

August 2

Births:

1891 – Arthur Bliss, English composer and conductor (d. 1975)

1905 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)

Deaths:

1945 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)

1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer and conductor (b. 1899)

2012 – Mihaela Ursuleasa, Romanian pianist (b. 1978)

August 3

Births:

1832 – Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer, conductor, and director (d. 1914)

1934 – Michael Chapman, English bassoon player (d. 2005)

Deaths

1835 – Wenzel Müller, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1767)

1920 – Peeter Süda, Estonian organist and composer (b. 1883)

1998 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian composer (b. 1934) Significant composer, but not one I can appreciate at the moment.